Teaching Darkness
by Rae Logan
Summary: AUFollowing the events in Shadow's Story in Next Gen, Mephiles takes a last ditch effort move that fuses him to Shadow. Now with two minds, Can Rouge and Omega save Shadow before Mephiles takes over completely? ShadowXRouge
1. Shadephiles or Mephiladow?

As a secondary story series I wanna write... I decided to try an AU fanfic of my own, Featuring Mephiles. This would be if Next Gen Continued Shadow's story a bit more... my style... besides... Mephie needs more love...

* * *

Shadow stepped forward, picking his power ring bracelets from the ground. The liquid puddle that had been Mephiles separated at his feet. 

"I'm so glad _that's _over…" Said Rouge, watching him snap them back onto his wrists. "I was beginning to think you actually met your match."

Shadow shook his head, and scoffed an "As if…" under his breath, running his hand through his quills. No one seemed to notice the puddle beginning to evaporate.

Shadow stepped over it, lending Rouge a hand as well. Omega followed as they made their way to the exit.

The dark mist crept slowly behind them, flattened against the ground, it's eerie whispering unheard by the trio. Suddenly, Omega stopped.

"What's up?" Said Shadow, as he and Rouge turned around as soon as the robot's movements ceased.

"Warning: Supernatural-force-detected-within-the-immediate-vicinity."

"Well, considering-"

"Supernatural-force-detected-behind-Shadow!" This time, Omega actually sounded a little frantic, a very unusual occurrence for the robot. He was now pointing his guns behind Shadow, who looked back rather confused.

The mist formed into a blob and leapt at Shadow, who barely had any room for a reaction time. He slammed into the hard stone floor, dust from the sands stirring up as he tried to hold the blob back, which was beginning to ooze between his fingers. Rouge made a frantic grab for it as well, but her hands simply passed right through it.

"What the-?"

Shadow's eyes widened as the blob shot out of his hands and slowly began to cover his body.

Rouge and Omega could only watch in silent terror as it began to sink itself into his fur. He finally let out a scream of horror that had remained absent during the struggle. His red quills began to take on a teal tinge to them, as he began to writhe on the ground. The mist surrounded his body, engulfing him in darkness. His crimson eyes were now gaining a poisonous green rim to them, and his gloves and shoes disappeared completely, leaving sharp, clawed fingers and toes. His quills and tail were beginning to form crystals on the edges, and his markings were becoming frayed in appearance.

Rouge and Omega suddenly snapped out of the states of shock and hurried to assist the poor hedgehog. Or at least tried to; a purple energy blast quickly threw them back.

Rouge shook her head as the dust cleared, seeing a silhouette of a form rise from the ground. It straightened itself and began to look at its fingers, flexing them, inspecting.

"Shadow?" She asked uncertainly, as Omega shifted around, agitatedly.

The figure looked at her, two toned eyes narrowing with dark amusement. He grinned, showing off Shadow's fanged teeth as he did so.

"_Shadow's_ not here right now," Mephiles' voice sounded from this new entity. He closed his hand into a fist, shifting his foot back, preparing to tear across the space that separated him from the white bat. "But, if you want… you're welcome to join him…"

Rouge was frozen with fear… She couldn't react fast enough.

* * *

Shadow felt himself drifting… floating inside the darkest chasms of his mind. He was in a mild daze as his hurting brain tried to sort things out. 

Mephiles.

Mist.

Rouge.

Blob.

Attacked.

He had been attacked by Mephiles' mist form… hadn't he?

His mind was so confused. What happened? Where was he? What happened to Rouge and Omega?

It was Rouge's scream that jolted him to his senses.

* * *

Rouge felt herself get plowed out of the way by a large hunk of metal. She looked up from the ground and saw Omega standing his ground between her and Mephiles' new form. 

"Do-not-become-incapacitated-when-confronted-with-Shadow-like-being." He reprimanded her, turning his head to glare through his red, lights of eyes.

"But… But that _is_ Shadow! Or it _was!_" She said quite shocked. She stared at this new darkness, which had strafed to the side to avoid an "Omega-Blast". He laughed at this apparent "futile" attempt. He cracked his neck, as if to say he was expecting more of a challenge.

Rouge's wings flattened against her back as Mephiles took another charge at the two.

"Prepare to be engulfed in darkness, like you're dear friend Shadow here…"

Before Omega could lock and load his weapon, Mephiles suddenly took a dive, skidding to the ground, clutching his head, yelling harshly. For a brief moment, one could hear Shadow's voice crack through, before it took over completely.

"_…Leave… my brain… _and _my friends…ALONE!_" Shadow growled under his breath. Mephiles/Shadow got up shakily, stumbling back a few times, struggling internally with Shadow/Mephiles. He/They/It dropped to the ground, body twitching.

"Shadow?" Rouge crawled past Omega, who seemed like he was going to pull her back, but didn't, and instead watched her, ready to help if her idea went wrong. She crawled over to Shadow/Mephiles, and placed a hand on his/their/its shoulder as he/they/it began to shake, staring ahead blankly. As soon as the hand touched, the eyes transformed quickly into Mephiles' poisonous color entirely, a look of extreme hatred flashing across his/their/its face.

"_BACK OFF!_" He snapped at her, swiping a hand upwards, which sent Rouge flying back. Omega caught her before she hit the ground, and set her down, charged his energy cannon, and pointed it at Mephiles/Shadow. Rouge looked up in horror, rubbing her face where she had been hit. She could feel a bruise beginning.

"Shadow-like-being-attacked-Rouge-the-Bat. Prepare-for-"

"NO!" Rouge got up and put herself in the way, arms out to the side, showing Omega she wasn't planning on moving anytime soon. "I'm telling you, Omega… _this is Shadow!_"

Omega lowered his gun, and stared at the bat with the kind of silence that would be called "confusion". He turned his head at Mephiles/Shadow, scanning for the familiar life form that was his friend.

"Error. Sensors-detect-life-form-Shadow-The-Hedgehog-is-located-behind-you. Sensors-also-say-Mephiles-The-Dark-is-behind-you-as-well. Visuals-confirm-neither."

This time, the Mephiles side spoke up.

"You nuisance. Can you not see that I have taken control of your friend?"

"Error." Omega "shook" his head. "Sensors-"

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP ABOUT YOU'RE STUPID SENSORS?!" Rouge screamed loud enough to cause even Mephiles to cringe slightly at how shrill it sounded. "BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THIS _IS_ SHADOW! SOMEWHERE IN THERE, BUT HE IS SHADOW!"

Omega was silent. His head shifted from staring at Rouge, to Mephiles/Shadow, back to Rouge, who stared at him hard, back to Mephiles/Shadow, Rouge… well, you get the idea.

If Omega wasn't such an advanced robot… he might have exploded from trying to sort this out. Instead… he just figured he should shut up.

A grunt of pain quickly met their ears (or at least Rouge's), and the two quickly turned their heads to see yet another internal struggle take place and unfold. Mephiles/Shadow gripped right behind the ears, backing up into a stone pillar. His/Their/It's eyes slowly shifted to red, flashes of green lining the edges every few seconds. One long, dragged out howl of agony partially secured the possibility of Shadow's subconscious making its return. Teeth gritted, he curled inwardly, trying to fight for the rights of his mind to be returned to his full control once more.

"…Shadow?" Rogue said, dropping her arms to her side, as she turned fully around, kneeling beside him as he began to gasp roughly. "Is that you? Are you back with us?"

Shadow stared blankly in front of him, at nothing in particular. After a few more gasps, he nodded uncertainly, hugging himself with his new, clawed hands.

"…Yeah… I-I think so…" He looked up at Rouge, and upon seeing the bruise Mephiles had left on her cheek, he cursed softly, shaking his head. "… I don't know how much longer I have control over myself…" He started urgently. "But… I need you to…" He paused, thinking of the best solution. He came across one. He knew they wouldn't like it… but they had to, if they couldn't find another way. He decided to try "sugarcoat" this the best he could. He looked up at Rouge. "… Remember what I said… when that Giziod was around?"

"Shadow…" Rouge began, not liking how he was starting this.

"…Unless you have a better way… you need to ki-"

"WHAT?! _NO!_" Rouge protested, shocked that he would come _that_ solution again.

"Well, what other way is there?" He whispered grimly.

Silence.

Omega spoke for the first time in five minutes.

"Requesting-alternative-solution-to-aid-Shadow."

"Like what?"

"Perhaps-the-usage-of-the-Chaos-Emeralds-might-assist."

"Do you realize what could go wrong? I have Mephiles fighting to control my mind. And you just want to _give_ him the Chaos Emeralds!?" Shadow snapped at the robot with an anger that was not wholly his own. Briefly, his eyes flashed green, and both voices fused. Shadow took as shaky deep breath, closed his eyes, bit his lip and calmed down.

"… Just… _help me_…" he half begged.

Rouge looked at Omega, who's silence indicated his sorrow for his friend. Rouge bravely took Shadow/Mephiles hand and helped him up. He opened his sad eyes to stare at her before asking: "How can you stand to even be this close to me now? Look at me! I… I'm a monster!"

Rouge smiled warmly, leading him and Omega towards the exit. "You're my friend and I want to help you… besides… I said I'll always remain by your side, right?"

Shadow stared blankly at her, feeling Mephiles own confusion within him, before returning the smile weakly.

"Thanks…"

* * *

Inside Shadow's mind, Mephiles was utterly confused. He raged around in his frustration of not understanding this. How _could _she stand to be beside such a monstrosity? Why did she have such an attraction to Shadow? What was it that made the trio protect each other? 

He did not know why he was so concerned with such, as he would see normally, "trivial" thoughts. Perhaps Shadow's personality had rubbed off on him as his did to Shadow briefly.

He now saw himself faced with a few new questions that made him scream in aggravation. What did she mean, always "by his side"? Why did the robot hesitate at Shadow's request to kill him? Why did he feel Shadow's concern for the bat and robot?

One question haunted him more than any of the others. It troubled, and puzzled him to no means.

What was… "friends"?

* * *

End of... Chapter one... Read and Review. 


	2. Danger To Himself and Others

Wow... I didn't think this would be so popular... I must have hit a nerve somewhere. Anyway, like I said last chapter, Mephiles needs more love... he was probably the best and darkest villian in Sonic to date, but sadly, as the game's storyline never really happened, thanks to "Mr. TimeTravel" and "The Princess" (Sonic and Elise) blowing out Solaris' flame yet another 10 years prior, he never existed. Such hot bad guy potenial... wasted! Sega really screwed with us there, even though that game kicks a$$. I just hope they don't forget about Mephie...

* * *

Friends. This was a concept completely foreign to Mephiles. He just didn't feel he had the need to concern himself with such a trifling thought. He was Mephiles the Dark, a sinister entity that was merely the shadow of Solaris, the shade cast by the flame of Iblis. A flame he so wanted to join with once more… by murdering Sonic the Hedgehog and continuing the circle of events that ensured his existence. 

The only thing stopping him from that one simple goal was another hedgehog, the one whom he resurrected himself from the shade cast from the sun not but a few days ago.

"…Damn you, Shadow the Hedgehog…"

Sooner or later… he was going to gain control. It was only a matter of time.

* * *

"So… any ideas?" 

"Not one yet…"

Shadow sat on the boulder, his clawed fist held palm side to his forehead, and breathed out a rattling sigh. Within him, he could feel Mephiles actually thrilled by this. Apparently, he was planning something, and this statement helped him feel his plan was secure. This emotion was so conflicting with what Shadow was feeling, one could almost hear the stones of feelings grind against each other, and to Shadow, it felt like something was grating against his senses.

_Come now, Shadow…_Mephiles "voice" sounded in his mind, so only he could hear. _Don't you see how perfect this is? We are now one. Two powerful beings combined. Together, we can bring an end to Humanity… They're sure going to fear you now…_

"_SHUT UP!!_" Shadow screamed out loud, suddenly grabbing his now frayed quills, and yanking them downward, startling Rogue, and, much to anyone's surprise, Omega, who actually jumped back. Rouge clenched her teeth together as she stared at him with absolute concern, her ears folding back.

Shadow slid off of the rock slowly, screaming out curses and profanities as he tore at his quills, then quickly moved on to pummeling his head hard as Mephiles' taunts and logic rang clearly through his mind, unheard by anyone else.

Afraid he was going to give himself brain damage, Rouge and Omega each made a quick grab for either arm. The left, which Rouge had, slipped from her grasp, the claws scratching against the skin of her arm and wrist as he continued to beat his own head. Rouge quickly covered the wound on the wrist with her hand, knowing it wasn't very deep, but it still stung all the same. Omega pinned Shadow flat on his back, restraining both arms as well as his legs. Unable to move from the weight of the over a couple thousand pounds pressing him into the soft dirt, Shadow could now only scream curses at Mephiles at the top of his voice.

Several minutes later, Shadow began to quiet down, his voice now hoarse from the excessive usage, the edges of his eyes glistening and he closed them in a defeated whimper.

Rouge had never seen Shadow reduced to such a state. She felt her heart break as Shadow had resorted to frustrated tears to express his exasperation.

Omega let him back up, watching him closely, should he try to bash himself again. Shadow stood up shakily, feeling his head throb from each hit he had scored on it. One look at Rouge's wrist made him struggle for his breath.

"… I… I… I'm… so… so…" His own shock prevented him from saying the last syllable. He backed away from his friends, his legs quivering, as Mephiles' sick excitement welling up inside of him as well. He was beginning to feel slightly nauseated. He could not get one new thought from his mind. He had hurt Rouge.

He.

Had hurt Rouge.

Rouge didn't seem to care much for her wound; She knew it world begin to heal in a matter of seconds. She was more concerned for Shadow now. She reached her hand out, the other pressed gently against the cut to make contact with Shadow's shoulder to reassure him her opinion of him had not changed in the slightest.

As the hand drew near, Shadow broke from his mental daze with a harsh gasp which felt like it was then caught painfully in his chest. His eyes widened and his teeth clenched tightly enough to possibly crack them. He smacked her hand away with a scream of "GET AWAY FROM ME!" before he turned around swiftly to make a run for it.

Before Rouge and Omega could react, Shadow Chaos Controlled in mid step, vanishing in a swirl of purple. The two friends stood in mute shock, still trying to process what had happened. A split second later, Rouge took off to the entrance to Castle Town, calling out Shadow's name frantically as Omega followed close behind her.

* * *

"Did you see a black, reddish greenish hedgehog come through here?" 

The kid with the dog shook his head. He had been the 16th person Rouge and Omega had stopped to question. Their hopes of finding him in Castle Town were looking very grim now.

"_Dammit_ Shadow! _Where could you be?!_" Rouge screamed out, stamping her foot as Omega questioned (slowly, might I add?) the Guard at the archway that led to New City. Rouge's ears perked up at once at the Guard's response.

"Actually, the Guard on the other side of the door reported a hedgehog matching his description not to long ago."

Rouge sped through the door, then back to shake the Guard's hand gratefully, and sped back through.

* * *

Shadow was now stumbling blindly through the streets of New City, his head spinning. The dizzying effects of the punches to his head were now taking its toll on him. 

Colors swirled around him as the world began to stretch and skew before his eyes. He clamped his hands to his head as Mephiles tried once more to break Shadow's will to put up a fight to the end.

_You're a danger to them now… they won't accept you… they're just afraid you'll hurt them…_

"_…_Sh-Shut…up…" Shadow's voice was now weakening. That Chaos Control probably didn't really help him in the long run. He could feel the fog forming around his mind.

_You know it's true… you've already hurt that bat…she probably despises you now…you can't fight that…_

Shadow could barley make out the docks as he staggered backwards. The colors of the sails of each boat blended together.

"…I told you once…"Shadow whispered weakly as his world was growing dimmer by the second. "…And I'll say it again… if the world chooses… to become my enemy… I will…"

His eyes rolled up as he hit the large sidewalk square with a hard thud, people stopping to gather around the poor hedgehog. The last of his sentence finished on an unheard breath.

"_…fight like I always have…_"

* * *

It didn't take long for the rest of Team Dark to arrive on the scene. Mere seconds after he hit the ground, Rouge was already pushing her way past the sea of people that had formed around Shadow's unconscious form. They jumped back as soon as Omega threatened to "eradicate those who are in the way". Had Rouge not been so intent on reaching Shadow, she might have made a comment on how some things never change. 

The screaming of the citizens, who were now running around in a panic after Omega's threat, did not distract her in the slightest.

"Shadow…" She said, shaking him gently in an attempt to arouse him. He groaned groggily, hanging quite limply in her arms as she dragged him out from the middle of the sidewalk and into the shade of the buildings.

Shadow unconsciously whispered an "I'm so sorry…" as she set him down with care. That one kid with the dog tripped over said dog when he was trying to join the people in their frantic attempts to desert the area, Omega having given up on that "goal" a few minutes prior.

* * *

If I had it my way... Omega would have done that if left idle for too long... XD. But Next Gen kinda killed some of my respect for him, y'know. I think I'm probably gonna pull out all the stops on this fic, and leave no idea left unchecked... I think I've finally, after over 2 years of doing this, found my fic-ing style. 


	3. Heated Discussions

Whoa! 10 reviews in the first two days? That a record for me...

Okay... so in this chapter... we have a little more of darker Mephie... which kinda fun to write. as a note... I put a couple credits at the bottom.

If you want to see how MephiShads looks, I've done a drawing for you to see at : http://raelogan. deviantart. com/ art/ Not -a- Monster- 69899316 (just remove the spaces). Here's chapter 3. Enjoy

* * *

Shadow found himself walking down a dark hallway. His bare feet felt the cold tile bite at his soles as he wondered vaguely where he was. He turned in a circle several times to take in the area surrounding him. It seemed to stretch on forever, with closed doors lining the walls on either side of him. 

_Which one will you take, Shadow? Only a small handful will let you escape…_

Shadow jumped in his skin, looking around wildly to locate the source of the voice. It was most certainly Mephiles', but it was echoing all around him. He brought his fists up to get ready to defend himself if Mephiles did show, and gasped in amazement at what he saw about his hands.

Normal.

Gloveless, with his Power Rings still on his wrists, but normal. He quickly checked over himself, seeing, much to his joy, that he seemed to have reverted back to normal. His quills and markings were _his_ color, the crystals gone from them and his tail, and his fur was smooth and well kept once more. He was exactly the same as he was before Mephiles fused with him… except he was missing his hover skates and gloves.

But he didn't feel that was important right now. He had his Power Rings on him, so he wouldn't have to worry about passing out from releasing too much energy. Right now he had to get out of wherever he was.

He tried one door, but the steel handle refused to turn. Neither would the one across from it, or diagonal, or even the ones right next to it.

_You can't escape from here, Shadow…It's futile to even think you can avoid me…_

"I. Can._ TRY!_" Shadow said between each tug he took at another door, this one with an old brass doorknob, but it too refused to move. Shadow kicked at it only to grasp his bare foot as it's toes erupted in pain due to lack of protection. He cursed loudly, his voice echoing down the empty halls.

_Might want to watch that anger of yours, Shadow…You are showing to be much like me as the time passes._

"_Shut the Hell up!_" Shadow yelled around himself in all directions, turning in circles as he tried to find either the way out or Mephiles… which ever came first.

_Hm… "Hell"…that reminds me of an amusing little song I heard while I was stuck in the back of your mind earlier…I think it might suit you very well on this occasion…_

"I _don't_ want to hear it!" Shadow knew full well which one he was talking about… and he didn't want to hear a word of it.

Mephiles ignored him. He simply recited the lyrics like a dark poem, pausing between every line or two to leave a good emphasis on each meaning.

_I can't escape this hell…_

_So many times I've tried…_

"SHUT UP!"

_But I'm still caged inside…_

Shadow stuffed his fingers into his ears, yelling random stuff to try to drown him out, but the voice was in his head as well as his ears.

_Somebody get me through this nightmare…_

Mephiles appeared out of the shadows of the hallway behind Shadow. He too lacked his gloves and shoes, once again mirroring Shadow appearance. He began to slowly make his way towards Shadow, who backed ways slightly as Mephiles drew nearer, arms crossed as he continued his… almost… taunting "chant".

"I can't control myself…"

Shadow toggled his hand over the handle of the door behind him, each shake of the doorknob becoming more and more frantic.

"So what if you can see…

The darker side of me…"

He tilted his head to the side, staring at Shadow with his venomously green eyes. If he didn't lack a mouth, Shadow was sure he would be grinning in the most sinister was possible.

"No one will ever change…"

"_SHUT UP!_"

"This animal… I have… _become…_" at the last word, Mephiles quickly uncrossed his arms and swung them outward, triggering his next form to take effect, becoming a crystalline hedge-beast. The whites of his eyes became blood red, and his hands became sharply clawed. His eyes widened with excitement, giving the maybe-not-too-far-from-the-truth look of one who was a madman.

"… We are so much more alike than you think…" He said with an insane edge to his voice. "… We were both created during experiments to aid humanity… and something went wrong in the process…"

Shadow suddenly found his voice, and he was furious.

"You're wrong! _You_ may have gone wrong… but I fulfilled my purpose… I-'

Mephiles cut across him, circling slowly around Shadow, who turned to keep his eyes on him. Mephiles brought his clawed hands up in the air and, much to Shadow's bewilderment… air quoted.

"'Fulfilled you purpose.'… I see… so what comes after that? You find your one place you belong? Live out your days happy and carefree? Just forget every little bad thing that's happened in your life?"

Mephiles stopped and leaned in Shadow's face, his hands behind his back.

"I know almost everything about you now, Shadow… This time inside your mind… I know nearly _everything_… Half Black-Arms alien, huh? You must be one special hedgehog. Yet, even before now… you've had to fight against Humanity several times… What drives you to protect them… if you already know they might turn against and hate you again? Why? _WHY?_"

Shadow paused for a good dramatic effect. He leaned into Mephiles' face to where, if this form had one, they would almost be nose to nose. It was Shadow's turn to have the advantage. He grinned in his trademark superior way, his fanged teeth giving him a vague resemblance to a cat.

"Because… I made a promise to a dear and close human friend of mine on her dying breath… and I will be there should the world need me… and I will fight for them... Even if it can cost me my life…"

Shadow would have charged anyone to see the fit it seemed like Mephiles was about to throw. His eyes had narrowed, his clawed hands clenched into shaking fists, a flaming, purple aura engulfing the crystal hedgehog, wrapping around him, giving of enough heat or energy that the air seemed to burn. He let out a dragging scream of frustration, swiping his claws at Shadow, scoring a hit on his arm. Shadow gasped at the slight sting the scratch was making, and tripped when the aura erupted and set fire to everything within the area. Shadow soon realized, as the flames that surrounded him, licking at his quills wasn't really fire but a visible form of Chaos energy, much like his own, but with a different energy signature.

The door to the left was blasted open. Shadow blinked, and quickly goy up and sprinted for the door, slipping past, unseen by Mephiles. He decided not to look back.

* * *

Shadow's fluttered open. The setting sun was glaring painfully bright in his eyes. He lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the sun… only to have his heart sink into his stomach. 

Clawed hands.

He sat up quickly, startling Rouge as he frantically checked himself over. Claws, half and half markings, his Rings were gone, just like before. Not fully registering what had just happened, Shadow felt a surge of panic rise up inside himself as he sat there turning his head to try and catch a shimmering glimpse of the gold metal hoops glint in the sun.

"…Rings… where's… what… _my Rings…where?!_"

Shadow looked at Rouge, who looked back. Suddenly, Shadow felt the urge to run… run as far as he could, to distance himself from her to keep her safe until this ordeal was sorted and over with. Sadly for him, however… he was still a bit weak from his internal battles with Mephiles, this most recent one being the trippiest of all combined today…

Rouge stared back for another moment before her eyes narrowed as anger set in.

"You…_idiot!_" she screamed grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him a little roughly. Shadow could swear he felt his brain rattle in his head as she yelled at him. "Don't you _ever_ do that to us again! Do you have any idea how _worried _we were about you?! What were you _thinking?! We're your friends… YOU DON'T DO THAT TO FRIENDS!!_"

This went on for a few more minutes, and when she finally let him go, she planted a hand on his chest and pushed him down, and crossed her arms, sticking her nose in the air with a "hmph". It took Shadow a minute to reestablish any working function in his brain after being manhandled like that. He shook his head several times, and smacked it once.

"…At least… you're… awake… now…" Rouge finally looked at him after he didn't seem so dazed anymore. "You had both of us scared there…"

"Both of-? Omega too?" Shadow was briefly amused at the thought of Omega flipping out should something had happened. A lot of distress flares getting shot in random directions came to mind.

"… I mean not only did you run away, Chaos Controlled, and pass out in the middle of town…"

"You mean those weren't the only things I did?" Shadow felt a streak of fear slip throughout his entire body. Did he lose it and hurt someone?

"…I dunno what was going on… but you seemed to be having some kind of nightmare that we couldn't snap you out of… You were twitching, and kicking and… What happened?"

Shadow sighed deeply.

"You wouldn't believe it even if I told you…"

"…'Kay… but why did you run away?"

Shadow explained how he had been afraid that he had hurt her, and was even more afraid that he was going to hurt her even more. He had ran because he was scared that he might truly be a danger to those around him, namely, those he cared about. He was also afraid that Rouge might have hated him after his claws had cut her wrist.

"Was that all?" Rouge half laughed before she held up her left hand to show that even though the glove might have been ruined, her wrist was already well on the mend. "… If you didn't freak out like that… you might have noticed that most of the scratch was on side of the wrist…"

Shadow could have kicked himself.

He wanted to.

But he couldn't really. He stared at Rouge for a long silent moment, his lip quivering, before he bit down on it, blinked his eyes clear as several small tears slipped past nearly unnoticed. He inhaled sharply and threw himself onto her, hugging as tightly as he would permit himself.

Rouge blinked before closing her eyes sadly as the hedgehog in her arms shook with silent cries.

"Its okay, Shadow… We'll get through this. We'll get through this and everything will be the way it was before…"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the hallways Shadow had visited earlier, Mephiles was planning at something villainous. 

He held his clawed hands to his forehead in the shape of a pyramid, humming to himself with pleasure.

"Somebody get me through this nightmare…

I can't control myself…

Somebody wake me from this nightmare…

I can't escape this hell…"

* * *

And it is with my deepest appologies I must end the chapter here... 

Credits:

shadougexx - I'm sorry but I liked that idea about both being experiments... I just had to add it :D

Three Days Grace - "Animal I have Become" Lyrics (Best. Song. Ever!)

Okay, until next time: Bye bye

Rae Logan


	4. Fading

Okay... first off: Thank you for a total of 14 reviews, and a future thatnks to many more I know will come from this.

I would had this done sooner, but I was rocking out a a friend's Sweet 16 last night... and well... anyway... I got this done this afternoon.

In case you haven't figured out... the hallways is supposed to be a representation of Shadow's mind...

I hope this chapter runs as smooth as the last ones... Enjoy.

* * *

Shadow groaned, as he rubbed his forehead, a small headache was beginning to form. It was now nearing sunset, and he could say he had been this weird beast for a good five hours. He was now becoming anxious; a little worried that he might have to stay like this for a while. He let out a tired groan. 

"You okay?" Rouge said a little worried. He had been doing that for five minutes, and was beginning to look weary. Shadow looked at her through one eye, before turning away and shrugging uncertainly. Omega was silent, and had been so for the past half hour. The trio watched the moon begin to show as the sun disappeared from view beyond the west horizon.

* * *

Mephiles, on the other hand, was still reciting the lyrics, and seemingly enjoyed doing so. Never had he really any time for such leisure, as he was stuck in that accursed Scepter of Darkness for a good ten years, plotting his revenge. All because of Shadow. 

He tapped his "icy" shards that were his claws on the wall which he leaned against, tracing them into something, while combing a finger through one set of his crystal quills with the other.

"_I can't escape this cell_

_So many times I've lied…_

_But there's still rage inside…_"

He took his hand off of the wall and stepped forward, his eyes narrowing with excitement. He was ready.

"…Brace yourself, Shadow… it is time" He said as he brought his clawed hands above his head. He formed a bright swirling purple orb in his claws, sparks and lights jumping off of it as it became larger with each passing second. With a thrill of pure excitement, he crisscrossed his fingers together and swung his hands down, and pressed the orb to the ground. He narrowed his eyes even more and gave the orb a slight nudge to help it sink into the tiles.

* * *

Shadow suddenly clasped his hands to his head as his eyes widened, then let out a pained cry. Rouge and Omega became a little worried, even more so when he fell to his knees, curling inward slightly as another sharp pain shot through his head, then another, and another. He clenched his teeth before letting out a dragged scream of agony.

* * *

Mephiles made another orb and this time, threw it at a wall, where it bounced off and rebounded off the walls down the hall for a few times before becoming absorbed into the door. He could almost hear Shadow's screams of pain. This gave him even more thrills of excitement.

* * *

Shadow dug his sharp claws in his quills, pricking at his skin as his screamed louder, if possible. Rouge was holding him as he leaned into her heavily, almost unable to keep himself up. Rouge looked up at Omega, her eyes begging him for a solution, but the robot was at a loss as well. He felt a little helpless; he was watching his best friend in pain, and couldn't do much of any thing to help…. 

Shadow fell to the ground heavily with a muffled thud; his strength to fight against Mephiles was fading away slowly with each passing second…

* * *

Mephiles was enjoying himself beyond anything right now. He was now torturing Shadow the Hedgehog, weakening him just enough for him to try another take over. He threw one more orb for the hell of it and made his way to the door Shadow had been so "kind" enough to leave open for him. He slipped out and shut the door.

* * *

Shadow was now silent, staring at nothing in particular as his eyes glazed over. He seemed dazed from that brain attack, and was slowly blinking his red eyes. After a long while of this, the eyes blinked once more and this time they were green. 

Knowing what this meant by now, Omega quickly stood his ground as Rouge shot back, away from Mephiles.

"Where's Shadow?" She asked him as he began to pick himself up off the ground, her voice angry and scared, all in the same go. She took a breath and said with a lot more confidence to her anger: "_What have you done with him?_"

Mephiles let the silence drag out, giving it just the right effect as he wiped Shadow's tears of pain from his eyes.

"He's gone nowhere but right here…" He said, tapping a finger lightly to his head. "He's just simply where he has kept me shut for the past five hours."

Mephiles stretched his arms out above himself, and began stretching his muscles as if he had just woken up. This was adding something to Team Dark's silent horror, and Mephiles knew full well of it. He was simply savoring the look on Rouge's face, and the silent terror that was radiating off of Omega. He lived for stuff like this.

He held up his claws in front of him, palm side facing him, and flexed his fingers before shifting his gaze upward, staring at Rouge in particular.

"Let's play a little 'game', shall we?" He said, as a small blobbish orb began to form just above his claws. He grinned insanely, once more showing of Shadow's fangs, which gleamed brightly as the light of the moon began to peek through a cloud. "I like to call it 'Get out of the way fast enough…'. Think you can?"

Rouge was in a kind of stunned silent terror as Mephiles edged closer. Omega readied his guns as soon as Mephiles raised the orb.

* * *

Shadow pushed himself up off, taking note that his appearance was just the same as it was when he was in the hallways. He looked up and saw… 

The hallways…

"Damn it…" He cursed, looking around expecting to see Mephiles somewhere. All that greeted his eyes was emptiness and scorch marks on the walls and floor.

Pushing up off the ground with his knee, he stood up and made his way to one of the scorch marks, the one on the wall near the first door Shadow had tried. He ran his hand over it, feeling the blackened bits of charred stone marble scrape off under his fingers. He rubbed his fingers together for a moment, and then nodded slowly. There was Mephiles Chaos signature laced in it.

"But, where is Mephiles?" Shadow mused to himself, turning his head behind him before walking down the hall. The doors were closed, several of which had burns and charred pieces of wood, while the metal ones looked like they were beginning to cool down, some still glowing. The tile wasn't as cold on his bare feet as it had been last time.

He stopped abruptly at an etching in the wall, which looked like it could have been done with claws. The words stirred up a slight panic as he stared at them, making him quiver involuntarily. It made him bite down on his lip, and his heart jump past a few beats, missing a couple, making his heart pound painfully in his throat.

_Let the bodies hit the floor…_

* * *

As the orb was thrown, many things happened at the same time. 

Rouge snapped out of her daze and jumped out of the way. Omega shot at Mephiles. Mephiles strafed back and slipped. He waved his arms around as a quick surge of panic ran through his mind, and he looked behind himself quickly. What he saw made him panic even more.

Water.

He couldn't swim, and he was pretty sure Shadow couldn't either.

"_DAMN IT_!" he screamed as he lost his footing entirely, and fell into the water that made up the "streets" of Soleanna with a heavy splash.

He splashed around frantically for a brief minute, before dipping under. He brought his head up to take a deep breath, and sunk in completely. He looked up as the bottom of the body of water came closer and watched the surface further its distance. He reached up a hand and exhaled unintentionally, watching in terror as the bubbles of air surfaced in a way he could not. He was going to drown, and he knew it.

_How unfitting of an end for me…_He thought as his mind began to fog up from the lack of oxygen. He vaguely saw what looked like someone coming to save him… but he figured he was just imagining it. His mind slowly went blank as he cursed at the world...

* * *

Shadow was suddenly jolted from his terror as the hallways shook and began to dim slowly. The air suddenly began to chill; his breath was now visible as small puff clouds of vapor that disappeared after swirling for a few seconds. He suddenly became aware that water was seeping out from under the doors, washing over his bare feet and slowly rising to his ankles. 

A sudden thrill of panic shot through his mind. What if the water was going to keep rising? He couldn't swim. What was he going to do if it does? He couldn't find the door he used last time. He felt like he was screwed.

* * *

Mephiles was fading slowly as the world turned to shades of gray, his brain and lungs screaming for air. He felt the water's floor hit his feet and stir up some mud. 

He vaguely felt a hand close around his wrist and begin to pull him upward. He was too waterlogged to really care who it was, and he reached his other hand to grab onto the hand that had grabbed his wrist, as a silent thanks.

* * *

The lighting began to brighten as the water stopped rising. Shadow was holding onto a doorknob trying to wrench the door open, the water was at his waist before he realized it had stopped rising. He looked around in pure confusion as it slowly began to drain out and under the door. He felt a little annoyed that water got to escape, and he didn't

* * *

Mephiles coughed hoarsly as he felt the water drain from his lungs as he leaned over the water's edge, his clawed hands grasping the edge of the sidewalk that was just over it. The cool air of the night felt biting against his wet skin and made him shiver and quake from the cold. He cursed to himself silently for that mistake.

He looked behind him to see Rouge staring at him with her arms crossed. She too was drenched and water was dripping from her fur, particularly her ears, tail and fur tufts on the back of her head. She looked at little ticked off.

"…_why did you rescue me?_" Mephiles questioned with an icy voice, having to talk through his teeth to keep his words from quivering from the cold. "_…you could have let me drown… and end this entire ordeal…_"

"Yes… I _could_ have… but I didn't…"

"_Why…?_" Mephiles asked her, feeling his confusion override his frustration at trying to understand the simple yet complex minds of Humans and Mobians.

"I didn't let you die because Shadow's in _there_…" She leaned forward and flicked his head hard on the forehead. Mephiles let out an angry growl, but was still feeling too weak from his near drowning to do anything but think about what he could do to her for that. He instead decided to ask her more questions.

"… Tell me… what drives you to be so close to Shadow? Why would put his life as high as your own?"

Rouge shifted her gritted teeth to where the canines on the right rested on top of each other, and gritted those instead, before answering.

"He's my friend… and he would do the same for me…"

"But_ why?_" Mephiles persisted, feeling that didn't answer his question.

Rouge let silence pass. Mephiles didn't like it.

"_WHY?_" he said louder, in case she was going to say she didn't hear him. Rouge simply smiled, partially to the fact that she now had the upper hand.

"Because… we've shared a lot of moments together. We're teammates. We're friends. We help each other. It's what we do…"

Mephiles was visibly at a loss for words. The answer was so simple… but confusing. He coughed again as the last of the water drained out of his lungs. Never again will he let his guard down around any bodies of water, even a puddle. Why anyone would want to be so close to something that could be the end of you… he would never know…

Rouge stared at him with a look that almost had pity. She shook her head before turning her head away.

"This doesn't change anything…" Mephiles said softly as he coughed for what he had hoped was the last time. "I still hate you…"

"Same here…"

* * *

Okay, so Mephie almost drowns, Shads stuck in his mind, Rouge and Omega's stuck in the middle... Hm... Please review. 


	5. Coming Undone

Okay... so... well... I can't believe I got 18 reviews already! And in less time it took for my other ones! Thanks everyone:D

Okay... so for chapter 5... a little of Shadouge romance will grace it near the end... hope you'll like it...

Oh... a nother sidenote: The point of Mephiles near drowning happened for several reasons... in case you're wondering:

1. "Drown" in Darkness... you know where that's from... :D

2. I wanted to show that even though Mephiles is an uber awesome kickbutt villian... it doesn't mean he can't almost drown, or die... or even have a weakness for that matter.

3. What's a good detailed fic set in a city of water without that?

4. It might have played an important part later... or not... ya never know...

5. I can't wait to see the fan pics that inspired

6. It was also to add a tinge of humor in the fic.

7. To write Mephie with a thrill of panic setting in his mind... aw, we need more of those...

Well... I think that's all... so here's chapter 5. Enjoy.

* * *

Shadow took another tug at the door. Again… it didn't budge. Out of his frustration, he began to kick and punch at it, let out an angry yell as he did so. After about six or seven minutes of this, his slammed his fist into it one more time, and thumped his head against the door, sliding down some. He dug his fingers into the charred bits of wood, the soot of the burned pieces almost invisible against his black fur. He stood there for a moment in the silence, which felt deafening against his ears, before beginning to growl. The growl quickly turned into a scream of rage as he started to pound his clenched fists into the next door, this anger giving him the strength to do so.

* * *

For a while, Mephiles sat there by the water's edge, rubbing his arms with his clawed hand in an attempt to ward off the chill that had suddenly set throughout his entire body. The fact that he was still dripping wet did nothing to help on his part. He wiped at his nose, which still felt like it has water in it, and sneezed. 

Oh, how low the great Mephiles the Dark had sunken… nearly drowning, and having to be saved by which he was intending to destroy anyway. The irony to him was just sickening.

He felt the stare from Rouge behind him, and flattened his ears, fully intending not to acknowledge her presence. It was bad enough she had to save him… and… come to think it now… he thought his might have caught a cold…

He sneezed again, feeling his nose run a bit.

_Great…_

* * *

Meanwhile, Shadow was still at it. He felt the wood splinter under his bare knuckles as he hacked away at one door he had decided that he would make it be the way out. The slivers of wood dug their way under his skin, giving off a burning feel to each one, but he gave no mind to them. He was getting out of there, and nothing was going to change his mind.

* * *

Mephiles stood up quickly, briefly clasping a hand to the side of his head before shaking it and removing the hand. He sniffled a little then turned to his left, and took a step.

"And, where do you think _you're _going to?" The white bat said, causing Mephiles to stop in his tracks. He turned his head to face her, narrowing his eyes, and baring his teeth slightly.

"My dear… what_ever_ your name is…" he growled, taking a mental note to try and find out before he set his plans into full swing, wanting to know the name of the bat that was causing him such problems right now. "… Believe it or not… _I _have a certain blue hedgehog I need to kill, and not even _this_ situation is going to stop _me_..." He turned swiftly intending to take another step, but a rock collided with his head, causing him to throw his hands back and grasp the point of impact, gritting his teeth in pain.

"Like_ hell _you are!" he heard her hiss at him. He turned his head slowly, eyes wide with rage as he bared his teeth even more.

"Grave mistake…" he snarled at her. The white bat flattened her ears in alarm, thinking maybe that wasn't the best idea to do, and back away slowly.

* * *

"Just a little more…" Shadow said to himself as he continued to beat at the door, seeing that he was getting closer to the other side, the hallway out of there just visible behind the crack that was beginning to widen on the wood he had pummeled thin. 

He kicked his foot right through it, splinters of wood erupting from the hole, digging scratches in his leg.

* * *

Mephiles had forgotten about his powers. He had forgotten he could probably send her into another timeline, in a scattered future as her punishment. But this bat had worked his last nerve, and now… all he wanted to do right now was rip her apart with his own claws. 

Omega's true accuracy was now evident as a majority of his blasts missed completely and sailed over Mephiles' head. The robot charged up an Omega Blast and sent it at the Mephiles, who actually swatted it out of the way with one hand as if it was a fly.

"Estimating-chance-of-survival…" Omega said, backing up with Rouge. "Seventy-four-percent-estimate-that-we-are-screwed…" The robot used a word that Rouge often used in a seemingly hopeless situation. If this wasn't so bad… Rouge might have laughed.

But she didn't.

If Shadow didn't regain control right now, then yes… They were screwed.

* * *

Shadow pulled his foot lose and punched through the door once more, making it almost large enough of a hole to get through. He backed up a bit and made a running jump for it, smashing through the door with an explosion of wood chips and splinters, which had embedded in his quills. 

He stood up and shook some lose, picking a few free as he made his way down this hall. It would seem luck would have it this was the same one he had escaped through earlier, or at least similar.

* * *

Mephiles raised his clawed hands menacingly, breathing deeply and heavily as a flaming deep purple aura engulfed around him, encircling him, lighting up the entire street. 

He brought his hand down swiftly, fully intending to slash them into the arms of the white bat as she threw them up as a feeble attempt to protect herself. She waited for the claws to score a direct hit, but heard a yelp of pain that did not come from her instead.

Bringing her hands down slightly and peering over the top one, she saw Mephiles drop his knees on the ground, holding his head in his hands, his teeth gritted as one eye was open wider than the other, which was clenched shut, slight tears forming near the edges, sparkling in the night's light.

"_Dammit… Not now!_" He half cried out as he dug his claws sharply behind his ears. He shook violently as he dragged his claws down his head, leaving surprisingly mild looking scratches that did not bleed.

His eyes started to take on a reddish tinge to the edges, before he blinked and they shifted back quickly.

"_NO!_" He screamed out, shaking his head roughly. "_I've waited too long for you stop me like this, Shadow! _TOO _LONG!_"

He didn't notice he was slowly edging to the water again as he inched back, yanking viciously at his ears, not caring how pathetic he looked right now. With another sneeze, he was sent back and began to topple over the edge.

Time seemed to stand for a moment to him. Silence loudly filled his ears as he turned his head upward slowly, terror welling up inside of him gradually as the image of the water came slowly into view. With a deep breath that seemed like it took forever to take, he let out a terrified scream that echoed chillingly in the night's air before his eyes shifted back to red, Shadow's voice taking over Mephiles' as he fell in.

Shadow threw his hand up to grab onto the edge of the sidewalk, the other making a frantic grab for the edge as well, but it kept slipping. Hanging off the edge, his body quaked from the biting cold water that half submerged him. He was frightened. What had Mephiles been doing? Shadow certainly couldn't swim, and now he found himself hanging on for dear life half in a large body of water. Cement was hard to really get a good hold on it, and if somebody didn't help him soon, he was going to fall and be carried to the bottom of the water.

His hand slipped.

It seemed like forever for the water to rise up around him. In his terror, he forgot to take a breath, and felt his terror build up quickly as the water already covered his mouth and nose, the water stealing his supply of air. He shut his eyes and…

He felt a hand clasp around his wrist and yank him up roughly, his eyes meeting Rouge's as she quickly smiled and used both hands to pull him out onto the sidewalk.

"Apparently… Mephiles can't swim…" She said rolling her eyes laughingly as Shadow shook the water from his quills, water droplets casted back to their points of origin. "That's the second time he's fallen…"

She was cut short as Shadow jumped into her arms, ears held back, eyes shut, teeth clenched, hugging as tightly as he did earlier, silent as the dead of night.

"Shadow?" Rouge said a little shocked at this.

Shadow buried himself deeper, and whispered hoarsely as his body trembled from the cold night air biting at his her skin and fur. "…Don't let go, yet…"

For a while, Rouge sat there, a wet, freezing hedgehog shivering in her arms, the lights of the moon and stars on the crystal clear night cast a silvery glow to them. Shadow shook as the icy air gnawed at him, leaning into Rouge in a kind of trance, hearing her beating heart thump reassuringly beneath his ear. If the air didn't feel so cold, he would have liked this moment to last forever.

He lifted his head a little to gaze over her shoulder, the moon's reflection shining as a bright rippling orb in the water, and the lights of the stars twinkling in between each miniature wave. It was such a pretty night, and yet he could not fully enjoy it. Not as he was right now.

"C'mon…" He heard Rouge say. "Let's go find something to dry you off… Before you catch a cold…"

Shadow nodded slowly as she pushed him away gently to stand up and take his hand. She pulled him up, and once standing, he fell forward into her arms once more, a slight moment of weakness taking hold. She caught him as his arms draped over her shoulders and he slid down some.

For a while, the two stared into each others' eyes, Shadow taking note of how beautiful of a jade Rouge's were. Their noses touched as Rouge saw the light of the moon give Shadow's eyes a glassy look, like a gemstone.

_Such a deep color…_ She thought to herself, pink rising slowly to her cheeks as she felt his warm breath against her face._ Almost like a ruby…_

When the two realized what had happened, both faces turned a deep red and Shadow, with help from Rouge, pushed away a little, turning his face away with his lip caught between his teeth.

Right now… he couldn't afford to have a moment with her.

* * *

Oh... poor Shads... I hope you get through this... 

Rae Logan

* * *


	6. Fill Me In

Okay... before I continue... I'd like to thank everyone for thier wonderfull reviews. I'd like to do this in as much order as I can:

Liz

wizardmaren

Cooldude Num. 1

shadougexx - for 5

IJ

Cheeza - For 3

The All Real Numbers Symbol - for 4

blacKatDP

Sheilk - for 3

Mystery001

To all of you... thank you!

As for chapter 6... It's kind of a silly filler chapter, just to humor you before we move back to the drama... Hope you enjoy it

* * *

Apparently in Soleanna, they have gift shops open almost twenty-four-seven. They also accepted Rings as a universal currency. Upon finding that out, naturally, as any other girl would do, Rouge nearly went on a shopping spree. How cute the snow globes and plush toys looked to her and nearly no one in their right minds could resist the personalized key chains and coffee mugs that lined the shelves and racks. 

"Oh, Shadow! Look at this!" She squealed happily as she shook the fuzzy plushie in front of him. It looked like a fuzzy pluff ball of orange and red, which he assumed was suppose to the flame of Solaris, and merely shrugged before looking at Omega with an awkward look on his face. He could hardly see himself being the kind of guy you would find at a gift shop, let alone one obviously aimed at tourists.

Rouge had added a couple of the plushies to her shopping basket before she began to rummage through the novelty mugs, searching for their names. Shadow highly doubted, if they did have any in stock, that they would be out on display, given the rarity of such a name, even in Mobius, and also doubted that the trio would even need them, given Omega was a robot, Shadow didn't really care for coffee, and Rouge already had too many mugs as it was.

After listing of a random set of names ("Sally, Sam, Samantha, Sammy, Sean, Shane, Shawn, Sheryl…"), Rouge pulled out one to lift an eyebrow at.

"Sonic…"

Shadow couldn't help but be a bit annoyed that the faker got his own mug, but Shadow, who had rescued the world just as many times, didn't.

"That's _so _messed up…" he growled turning away to find a towel.

"Oh… wait… I found your name…"

Shadow glanced back and nearly choked.

It was a set of pencils, accompanied by a cheap bright pink eraser, the kind that never erased right, and fell apart like it was, and probably really is, made of soft rubber plastic.

"You gotta be freaking _kidding_ me…"

"Don't feel too bad, Shadow… There are still other things to get."

She held up a pack of postcards in one hand, and a light up "S" shaped key chain in the other and shook them as if hoping to tempt him to get some. Shadow stuck his tongue out and shook his head, turning his attention back to the towels, as he was still freezing from his fall in earlier. Rouge shrugged half heartedly, and placed both in the basket.

Shadow reached up to choose a towel from the rack, but as these kinds of things where designed with the average height of a human in mind… Shadow came up a bit short. Literally.

It was at that moment Shadow the Hedgehog realized that being three feet, three inches tall wasn't as great as he thought it was.

As Rouge began to ring up her items, digging through her bag for some Rings, the store clerk could see over her shoulder that the hedgehog was climbing the shelves to reach the top of the rack to free the towel he wanted.

Shadow was actually doing quite fine for most of his journey up the shelves, at least until he was on the second to top ledge. His foot slipped a little sending a snow globe sliding into another one. This caused a chain reaction that… well… you know how these things usually turn out…

In short, Shadow managed to catch a hold of his towel, and using his other hand to hold him onto the rack, lift the towel free with the other. He jumped off and landed perfectly on his feet, the evident chaos that had happened behind him, liquid and fake snow forming a large puddle on the floor below the shelves. Shattered glass and broken miniature Elise replicas lay in a smashed pile, and the Solaris plushies, for some unexplained reason, spontaneously combusted.

The clerk brought her hands to her face, dragging her fingers down her cheeks as she uttered a silent scream, vaguely resembling something out of a Van Gough painting. One last shelf fell with a crash, splitting into two pieces atop the pile of mangled Elise models.

"_What?_" Shadow said defensively as he threw his hands up in the air. Rouge facepalmed, shaking her head embarrassedly.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mephiles sat on the floor, his back against the wall, arms crossed and his foot shaking impatiently. 

Every time he thought of that scream he had uttered during take two of his water mishaps, it sent a chill down his spine. He never had any idea that one like that could ever come from him…

Water.

He made a mental note that once he fused with Iblis, he was making "water" the top priority to destroy once the timelines began to be consumed. Why anyone would want it around, he certainly couldn't see. From his experiences in the past hour, he could say: It was cold. It was wet. It could kill you. If you breathed it, you could die. It slowed you down when you were in it. And once under… it was really difficult to say which way was really up… and the surface underneath it looked like a big mirror. This certainly didn't help if you were in a half panicked state of mind and felt your own life slowly fading away from you...

And above all… it made his nose run…

Mephiles sniffled pathetically, rubbing his nose with the back of his gloveless hand, feeling slightly sickened by the trail of thin semi clear slime that was left behind. He had never encountered something like this before, and said what any depraved villain in his situation would say:

"_What the hell is this!?_"

* * *

Shadow walked out of the gift shop, his newly purchased towel wrapped tightly around himself as Rouge shot a death stare at him, hugging her Solaris's flame plushies protectively. 

"What?" Shadow shrugged questioningly.

"You know very damn well what…"

Shadow thought for a moment and shook his head.

"Hey… we got a discount, right?"

"And a restraining order!"

"Yeah… bout that… I've been meaning to ask you… What's a restraining order?"

Rouge had to set aside her annoyance to fill him in. As he had been a coma, or if you want to get technical, a state of suspended animation, for about fifty years… the fifteen year old hedgehog was a little behind on terms, though he usually caught on fairly quickly.

"It means that we can't come within 3 feet of that particular store…"

"Do all restraining orders work _only _for that store?"

"No… this particular one applies only for this gift shop…"

"So… we can go to that one over there?" The hedgehog pointed across the body of water the sidewalks encircled, where a small gift shop stood, its lights still on and the neon open sign shining bright.

Rouge blinked, wondering why there would be another gift shop so close by. She looked at Shadow and said:

"Actually… I think the restraining order also applies to any shops part of the chain." She shifted the plushies to one arm and referred to the copy of the paper she had to sign about ten minutes after the Soleanna Guards had arrived on the scene. She looked up and nodded slowly. "Yeeaah…"

"Well… at least I got my towel…" Right now… that hedgehog couldn't be happier. He had a dry, warm, fuzzy towel, and wasn't going to catch a…

"_Chu!_" Shadow rubbed his nose, staring at the snot that was left behind, a little grossed out.

Rouge tilted her head to the side to look at him before laughing nervously.

"Heh… looks like you caught a cold after all…" Her laughter faded, then died out completely after Shadow broke down in tears, almost comically, knowing he wasn't going to get a break anytime soon.

He was going to mark this day as his second worst day of his life. Ever.

* * *

Okay... so that's it for now... Hope you liked it :D 


	7. Broken

Sorry for this being a little last than inteneded... Holidays... y'know...

Any way... everything is now going to be moving back to the seriousness (is this even a word? It should be...) so be prepared... I hope you enjoy it... So here's Chapter 7... wow... I've never gone this far on any story before...

Oh... once this story is done... I'll give a list of every song I listened to while writting this so you can see how that effected my writting. See if you can spot a few. I'll give you a freebie : During the moment between Shadow and Rouge in Chapter 5, where they stare deeply in each other's eyes, I was listening to "Sweet Dreams 06 Akon Mix" from Next Gen...

We lay like lovers in a warm embrace  
Your kisses thrill me like no-one before  
Baby, I'm all yours  
Livin' just for you

I can see the moonlight shining through the mist  
The moonbeams playing over you and me  
I see the light of love  
Shining in your eyes

I'm holding you in my arms  
Loving you beneath the stars  
I don't want the night to steal you away

Well... if you know the rest of the song... you can see how that works... Hm... now I feel like I wanna do a music video for them for that song someday... hm...

Well... enjoy and happy hunting!

* * *

Shadow's face felt hot. Fever hot. He rubbed his clawed fingers on his forehead, feeling the heat rise to his cold fingertips, warming them as he did so. He sat on the ground of the forest, alone, as the moon shone brightly above. 

A twig behind him snapped, and his ear twitched in response. Tensing up, he turned his head to look behind him slowly, feeling an adrenaline rush kick in. He had no idea why he would be so scared, but something told him to keep on edge.

A shadow moved among the trees, shifting the leaves in a whisper of movement. Shadow shifted his gaze quickly to the right, and saw a shimmer of blue streak past.

"Hello?" Shadow whispered shakily, swallowing hard as he felt his hands shake as well. He placed his hands down slowly, and began to push himself off of the ground once they touched, to stand and look around him.

As he did so, the nightlife of the forest began to shift and swirl around him in a mixed blur of colors and sounds. He could hear Mephiles' faint, but deep laughter echo all around him, filling up his ears. Shadow shook his head roughly in an attempt to clear it, but as soon as the image of the forest came into view… it simply clouded back up again.

Holding his hands in front of him, Shadow readied himself for any surprises that might jump out at him.

_Not feeling shaky, now are we, Shadow?_ Mephiles' voice echoed all around him, causing him to jump. _You'll never survive at this rate…_

"Show yourself!" Shadow said quite strongly, despite his fear slowly filling him. "C'mon, I can take you on, right here, right now!"

He was really just babbling to buy himself some time to get out of this predicament. He hoped Mephiles' wasn't really going to take him seriously.

Mephiles' laughter reached his ears, and right there he knew he was screwed.

_Well… if you're so sure you're up to it…_

Shadow began to look around wildly, trying to catch a crystal gleam or something in his fogged vision. A dark shape moved out of the corner of his eye. He blinked and saw for a brief moment a cloud of purple mist making its way towards him.

At that moment, Shadow had suddenly forgotten how to move in his terror. His muscles locked in his fright, and he felt the vapor wrap around his ankles. He tried to scream for help, but his voice died before it even made its way to his lips.

_You can try to scream, Shadow… but no one will hear you…_

The purple haze snaked its way around his frozen body, wrapping around his arms and legs, tightening around his chest like a ghostly boa ready to take his last breath.

He heard Mephiles' laughter ring in his ears as he closed his eyes.

* * *

"SHADOW! WAKE _UP!_" 

He felt someone shaking him violently. He vaguely wondered what had happened. Then the memory of the forest rose swiftly to his mind.

He shot up quickly, his breath coming in heavy pants as he found his fur was drenched in cold sweat. He gaped around frantically, expecting to see the dark shape somewhere, shifting his eyes from side to side as he did a quick sweep of the area. He found his towel clenched tightly in his quivering hands, the fabric scrunched in a wad in his fists as if he had been holding it like that for a while. Along with his hands, he realized that his entire body was trembling. He felt a bead of sweat slide down the side of his face before he realized he was looking into a pair of concerned jade eyes.

Rouge stared at him with worry as Shadow tried to regain his composure. His entire body quivered as he took deep, and hopefully calming, breaths. He held his hands, cupped, over his mouth, his eyes wide, and staring at his feet.

_He's trying avoid eye contact…_ The bat thought to herself sadly as the shaken hedgehog before her kept his head low. _He's scared, and he doesn't want me to know. He probably thinks that might freak me out, too…_

And indeed, Rouge was right. Shadow was visibly shaken from his nightmare, and he was trying everything he could to calm down. After all, he was supposed to be Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form, a genetically enhanced hedgehog created by Professor Gerald Robotnik. He was suppose to be superior, and more hard wearing than other Mobians, even right down to his aging process. He was never suppose to fear anything, and was to stand before sources of darkness and evil, stare them down and laugh. At least… that's how it was intended… but since the loss of his best friend Maria and the Professor nearly fifty years ago, Shadow had never quite been the same. Seeing one's death can do that to a person…

Shadow sat on the ground, his head low, his hands to his face, his body shaking and overall, appearing like one who had just had some horrific nightmare. Rouge closed her eyes, as she turned her head away, sighing dejectedly. She then opened her eyes, perked her ears up, and placed a hand on Shadow's shoulder as she tried to comfort him.

At a loss for words, Rouge spent the first minute or so silent. After all… what _could _she say? She decided to say what came to mind for this, hoping that talking to him would help. She took a deep breath…

And stopped.

Shadow was staring forward, blankly as he did when he was scared. What made Rouge stop wasn't that, but more of what else she saw.

Tears.

Tears that ran heavily down his reddened cheeks and over his hands, flowing like little rivers that didn't seem to stop. The dirt he was sitting on was already damp with the drops that had long since fallen, splatters of damp dirt clumps sitting below him. With each breath he took, the streams became more and more obvious, flowing more profoundly as the time passed quickly. He either didn't notice them, or didn't care, as he made no attempt to hide them, which Rouge found very heartbreaking.

"…Shadow…" was all she could manage. It came out like a broken whisper, lacking any strength at all. It was more of a slipped word, rather than a word of comfort.

Shadow slowly broke out of his dazed, blinking some of the tears way, though they kept coming back. He lowered his hands, revealing a quivering lip caught between his teeth. He slowly turned his head to gaze at Rouge, his cheek twitching as he stared at her with his now glassy looking red eyes.

The three words that came from his mouth shocked the white bat entirely, as she never thought she would hear him say such a thing. It came in half a sob, filled with fear, and every bit of emotion that played through his mind and heart right then.

"…I'm scared, Rouge…"

It seemed like an eternity afterwards. All sounds and life around them had stopped. Even Omega seemed quiet, his robotic whirring unheard by anyone. Shadow stared at Rouge, clenching his teeth to try to hold back his sobs, which now came from him like high pitched whine that sounded from the back of his throat. The light breeze of the night had now long died, leaving Shadow's quills and Rouge's hair tufts perfectly still. Shadow's ears flattened out to the side as he began to shake from holding his back his tears for this long. With one breath, he broke down once more, throwing himself into her arms for probably the third time since this all began.

Rouge wrapped her arms around the poor hedgehog protectively, letting him burry himself as much he felt he needed to. She flattened her ears once more, a practice that was now becoming a regular occurrence. She rested her head on top of his spiky quilled head, and let her own tears fall.

* * *

Mephiles decided to ignore his current predicament. After all, what did he care if his nose ran? The entire plan shouldn't stop such a stupid reason. He would never get to live it down. 

He pushed himself off the ground, which he had fallen onto after his freak out over the thin slime that came from his nose, dusted himself off, cleared his throat for no real reason and fixed his quills…

He suddenly stopped halfway through realizing that would be something Shadow would have done and kept his hands on his quills halfway in mid comb. His eyes widened as a sudden chill shot down his spine when he realized exactly what was starting to happen.

Shadow's personality was beginning to rub off on him.

* * *

Uh oh... Well... this might prove to be interesting... 


	8. Leave Me

I look and I see... 29 reviews! Wow, thanks everyone... This is now my most reviewed story as of yesterday... Thank you!

This chapter might be a little OOC, but it's all part of the story... trust me...

If the words are in 'sample words here' format... that's Shadow's thinking... so you know...

Enjoy.

* * *

Shadow sat by himself, an angry scowl on his face. He kept his eyes closed, and aside from the frown, held no other expression whatsoever. He breathed through his nose, which could be heard quite easily, as his arms were crossed. 

For the past half hour, he had been doing that without break. No one could explain why, not even him. The emotional breakdown not long before seemed to be of a distant past now, all traces long gone now.

His mind was now swarming with random thoughts, some he could swear came from Mephiles, as the overall style and feel was not his own. This left him more or less confused, as he could not really say truthfully what were his thoughts, and what belonged to the dark, shady hedgehog.

Every time he thought he had it sorted out, a new thought from Mephiles sounded in his mind. The strange thing, however, was that each new one had more or less the same comment as Shadow's. Several later were aimed at the ebony hedgehog completely.

_You do realize what's starting to happen now… Don't you?_

Shadow, a little surprised, answered back in his mind.

'No…'

_I believe _your _personality is starting to rub off on _mine_… If this persists, the same might happen to you…_

'…And… that's a bad thing?'

_Yes…_

'Why do _you_ care? Isn't this what you wanted to do, take over my mind and body? Because it sure seems like it!'

These words felt like they were spat out. Shadow really didn't care.

…_Believe it or not… that move was a last ditch effort… I wasn't going to lose right then and there… oh no… not when I've planned this whole thing for more than a total of two hundred years on all existing timelines…_

'So what you're saying is if, say, Silver, or even that echidna was fighting you then, you would have possessed them? Right?'

Silence

'I knew it…'

_It wasn't just that… seeing as I already hated you, and was resurrected through _your_ shade… And given that battle… it seemed a must…_

'… I hate you…'

_Nevertheless… I still think that it's important to inform you of what might be happening, as I am sure neither of us wants that to happen…_

'I think that cold of yours has made you soft…'

Pause.

_How did…?_

'Oh, C'mon… falling into freezing water… late night, near cloudless night… I caught one too, thank you very much.'

His words sounded angry.

_I… think you might want to calm down a little…_

'No. I'm not gonna listen to what _you_ have to say. No effing way! This is _your_ entire fault! _You _started this! You effed me up! Damn you!'

"_DAMN YOU!_"

These last words shot from his mouth unintentionally, echoing throughout the forest, scaring the ever-loving bejesus out of Rouge and Omega ten times over. Shadow had been so silent for the past three-quarters of an hour, that neither had expected it. Rouge jumped, and quickly shifted her gaze over at Shadow, who was now digging his claws into his head, screaming as he dragged them downward, leaving deep scratches as he did so. As he started to clench his fists, Rouge knew exactly what was going to happen. She flew over to him and grabbed his wrists before he could make the first hit.

"Shadow, STOP!" She screamed at him as he fought wildly against her hold. It was starting to make it hard for her to keep him steady. "Well?! HELP ME!" She yelled at Omega, who hadn't moved before now. Once he got a hold of Shadow's arms, the hedgehog began screaming, shaking his head violently, trying to free himself from their grips.

"LET ME GO! GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!"

"Shadow, it's us!"

"DAMMIT, LET ME GO!" His teeth flashed for a moment before biting down on something. With a loud cry of surprise sounding from the bat, she had sidestepped before they hit her, and instead the sound of metal was heard. For a long moment, Team Dark was silent, Shadow shaking as he tried to sink his teeth into Omega's metal hand. Rouge gasped sharply.

Shadow's eyes held a clouded dazed expression as he began to blink slowly, his eyes clearing up with each blink. He groaned softly before he realized where his teeth were. He blinked several more times, each time his eyes widening even more. He slowly lifted his teeth off of Omega's hand, taking in the light gouges he left on the two outside "fingers", causing his panic to hit the top and take over completely.

A shaking feeling overtook him like a quick wave, washing over him and rendering him a quivering mess. He began to hyperventilate and rock back and forth on his feet before toppling over onto his backside, where he shrunk away from them, bringing his hands up as if hoping he was creating an invisible barrier between him and them, distancing himself.

"…Shadow?" Rouge said hesitantly. Shadow jerked his head up to look at her before averting his eyes quickly.

"… Just leave me alone…" he said in a low voice, shaking his head.

"Shadow… it's okay… no one was-"

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" He screamed as he grabbed a good sized rock and threw it, but his aim was off, and it merely hit the ground and rolled, tapping into Rouge's foot. His trembling hand still in the air, he dropped his head and clenched his fist, shaking with silent sobs. He then collapsed entirely, falling to the ground in crumpled heap. Exhausted from his tears he had already shed, he instead shook with each breath he took.

Unsure of what to really do right now, Rouge stared at her friend in hopeless despair as he stopped shaking, and fell silent.

Feeling a trill of panic set in, she rushed over and shook him gently.

"Shadow?"

A light moan emitted from his lips, letting her breathe a quick sigh of relief as his breathe came in a quick and shallow rhythm.

"Exhausted…" She said aloud, aiming it at Omega, who had also begun to worry. The robot took a quick look at his "wound" and passed it off as nothing a little buffering couldn't fix. Rouge was also aware of this, and even more aware as to how close Shadow's teeth had come to making contact with her. She had seen how sharp they looked, and knew he was probably the only hedgehog with fangs in the area, perhaps in history. Those would hurt if he bit her.

Taking an involuntary glance at her left wrist, the slash in the glove showed the mark he had unintentionally left on her the day before, which was now almost completely healed over. As for Shadow's punch marks on his head… he wasn't bleeding anymore, but the bruises were beginning to darken, indicating that they might be stinging a little if touched. Rogue wondered how her bruise on her face now looked, but could say it didn't feel as bad as before.

She carefully picked Shadow up to where he was leaning against her as she held an arm over his chest, hoping to give him a sense of security as she kept him in a protective embrace. Shadow groaned lightly, shifting only to be lying more comfortably, and fell limp as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Okay... So end of chapter 8... sorry it's kinda short... 


	9. Eye of the Storm

Gonna start the climax... hope you like it... I love the over 33 reviews now! thanks!

* * *

Rouge had her arms around Shadow's chest, which rose and fell with each breath he took. Rouge couldn't help but crack a small smile… he did look cute when he was asleep. Completely unaware of the situation for the moment, Shadow was lost to the world, entire mind a blank.

This peaceful state of tranquility, sadly, would be short lived. Only a half an hour after Shadow fell sound asleep, it would seem he began having a fit of some kind.

It began with his feet and hands, twitching ever so slightly, barely noticeable at first. The facial tics were next, followed by a sharp intake of breath as his limbs began shaking.

"…Oh my-" Rouge gasped as the hedgehog began to thrash around violently in her arms. He arched his back before letting out a dragged cry. Surprisingly, it sounded more scared than one of hurt. Regardless, Rouge knew that if she couldn't get him to stop flailing around, he could end up injuring himself. Rouge suddenly had an idea.

Quickly letting go for a moment, she clasped her arms around his, wrapping him in a firm but gentle hug, feeling him spasm and jerk under her embrace. She pulled him closer, and began petting him behind the ears, whispering soft and soothing words under her breath.

Omega attempted to help, but Rouge looked him with an "I think I got it…" kind of look. The robot would have smiled a little relieved like, if he could.

Slowly, Shadow began to quiet down, falling limp once more. He emitted a sound Rouge thought she would never hear from him…

Purring.

Deeply sounding from the back of his throat, it seemed to have a lulling effect on him. He tilted his head back before turning it to rest on Rouge's shoulder. The only remnants of his "panic" episode were the small twitches in his foot, which shook occasionally now.

He half opened his eyes, only to close them a few seconds later, whispering something about "Maria".

Out of the corner of her eye, Rouge spotted a glint of purple. Now that the sun was overhead, shinning through the branches and leaves of the trees, it casted a shine on a certain gem. Rouge was almost shocked speechless; a Chaos Emerald was so close to them this whole time… and neither of them knew. How utterly… For lack of a better term coming to mind… ironic…

But Rouge couldn't get to it as she was holding Shadow.

"Hey, Omega? See that purple-y thing over there?"

* * *

They found a Chaos Emerald.

"Oh, dear…" Mephiles said a little worried (having Shadow's personality fuse with his, he… for some unexplained reason… found this as a bad thing…). "If they try to separate us now, before at least collecting more… there's no _telling_ what unpleasant results we could get…"

Mephiles flattened his ears at the first thing that came to mind.

"This won't be good for any of us!" He exclaimed, jumping slightly at the echoes of his voice reverberating off the walls of the hallway. "But by Shadow smashing up the door out of here earlier…"

Mephiles couldn't let them know because the door had simply vanished, leaving a blank spot on the wall. With Shadow out of it and the way he was right now, he message to them couldn't really get through.

"Oh… my… God…"

* * *

"So, maybe if we just use it like a wishing stone or something, maybe we could separate them…" Rouge said quietly as to not wake Shadow. Omega held the Emerald in his metal hand as Rouge continued on.

"… So we, or I… no offense, just have to focus my thoughts on doing this… and we should free Shadow."

It seemed plausible… I mean… what could go wrong?

* * *

"This is so going to end badly!" Mephiles howled as he began to pound his hands on one of the doors.

"This can't be happening! This is going wrong, _all wrong!_"

He continued to pound on the doors, trying to get one to open.

* * *

Rouge held the purple gem in both hands, above Shadow's head, and feeling a little silly at how she had to do this. But, thankfully, only Omega was around, and as far as she knew… robots didn't have a sense of humor.

Omega couldn't help but let out a sound like a "hah…" which he quickly changed it to a humming noise when Rouge glared at him.

"_Try _to be serious here…" She snapped.

She continued to focus her thoughts into the power gem.

A glowing energy began to surround Shadow, encasing his body in a bright lavender light.

* * *

The halls began to glow an amethyst color. Mephiles quickly let go of the door handle as he felt it grow hot in his hand. Shaking the hand in the air to help cool it off, he watched in horror as the room began to take on a lilac tone, as if someone had placed a color lens over a camera.

Slowly the room began to fade out of sight, replacing the void with something similar to the dark mass he had changed the desert floor to before he tried to fuse with Shadow.

"This can't be good…" was all he could manage before his body began to glow with a lavender energy.

His bright green eyes widened with dread before he whispered pleadingly: "Oh, God… _please _no…"

* * *

With a burst of energy, a sphere of purple light encased a bubble around Rouge and Shadow. A furious wind caused her hair tufts to ripple as Shadow's quills and chest fluff fluttered angrily.

The hedgehog was levitated upright, an eerie puppet-like look to the sight as he looked like he was hanging by invisible strings.

"Shadow?" Rouge said hesitantly, feeling a chill run down her spine as she watched his lifeless body hover in front of her. The wind was roaring deafeningly in her ears, causing her to cup her hands over them, to try to keep it from whistling in them.

Suddenly, Shadow's eyes snapped wide open, pupils shrinking to pinpricks before he began to scream as if every nerve in his body was on fire. The light around his body erupted into flames that circled and orbited around him.

Omega couldn't do anything as of the moment, as the orb was acting as some kind of shield, blocking him from going in. Nevertheless, he still tried to break his way in, sending Omega-Blasts, and swipes of his metal hands its way. But he made no progress in breaking it despite his attempts.

* * *

The flames engulfed around Mephiles, scaring him to his very core. He screamed as it wrapped around each individual quill he had, though he did not scream because of it was burning. Instead, it felt more like an incredible surge of power he had never experienced before. He had no idea where it could be coming from, but he had a hazy guess that it was a mix of his, Shadow's, and a Chaos Emerald.

He screeched as his world was suddenly shrouded in darkness.

* * *

Shadow screamed for one last time before the flames exploded from his body, casting a harsh, bright light over the area. Omega was sent back when a charge of energy blasted from the sphere, throwing him into a tree, and jolting his systems, activating his stand-by mode. The robot let off one last whirring sound before the lights of he eyes shut off. Rouge covered her eyes to protect them from the glare, as she heard two things hit the ground heavily. As the light cleared, she dropped her arm and saw two hedgehogs lying prone on the forest floor. The sphere that had trapped them flickered before dissipating in one sweeping movement.

The teal blue striped one began to stir first. He twitched his fingers before curling them as he slowly lifted himself off the ground with great difficulty. He let out a weakened groan as he brought a hand to his head after he got himself to sit against the tree's trunk behind him.

"…What… have you _done?_" Mephiles murmured as he moved his hand to rub at his forehead, staring at Rouge with a flicker of feeble anger crawling across his features. "By doing that before you had more Emeralds… we're not the same as we were before…"

"What are you-" Rouge cut herself short as the red streaked hedgehog finally moved. He got up with better ease than his counterpart, and was already on his feet before Mephiles could even begin to pull himself up by a branch hanging from the tree. Shadow's quills were the right color, but retained a certain amount of frayed quality at the edges of color. His eyes were once again fully red, but held an unfathomable amount of coldness behind them, as well as a shadow seemed to line itself under the bottom of his eyes, bringing out the full blood red color they now seemed to be. He curled his lips into a vicious grin, his fangs quite visible, as he let out a wicked laugh that sounded from deep within. Bringing his hands out to his side, a greenish flame of Chaos power erupted from his fingertips and blazed around his hands, casting a green glow to his face.

"Holy…"

* * *

Gonna leave it at one hell of a cliffy... won't be able to update for about a month or so... next chapter might be the last... but VERY long... followed by an epilouge and a bonus chapter... till then!


	10. Tear

Okay... long time... no update... sorry... it's been hectic!

I see I now have 40 reviews... and I thank you all who contributed to that...

As for this chapter... I don't really want to end it here... so I'm probably going to give Mephiles some spot light... after all, he doesn't even have his own catagory on FanFiction. Yet... _Chocola has one?_ That deffinatly wins my "_**WTF?!**_" award. But, hey... if we keep trying... and write some more fics with Mephie... we could probably win him a catagory. The poor underated hedgie deserves that...

* * *

Shadow took a running charge at Rouge, who froze in place in her terror. She could see by the look in his eyes that he had truly become an evil monster. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall as she felt as if she had totally failed him. It was her idea to use the Emerald, and it was her who had botched it up.

Before the strike was hit, Rouge felt a set of arms wrap around her and pull her out of the way before she fell on top of whoever it was. She opened her teary eyes and saw a blurred dark shape of a spiky quilled hedgehog.

Without really thinking, she asked: "Shadow?"

She blinked and saw a clearer image come to view, and felt her face go red from the awkwardness of the situation.

Mephiles lowered his eyebrows almost sadly before responding in an apologetic tone: "Sadly… no…"

An angry growl sounding off behind them caused Mephiles to push her aside and get up to stand his ground, leaving Rouge completely bewildered.

"Why did you…" She felt the words die on her lips as she suddenly understood.

"I was just returning the favor…" Mephiles said as he quickly looked be him to lock gazes with the white bat. She nodded and said "Thank you…"

Shadow collided with Mephiles, a spray of blood from one of them spattering on the trees around them, though it was hard to tell who. Mephiles felt his back hit the wall of rock behind them, knocking the breath out of him sharply.

Without a moments pause, he lifted his foot and planted it on Shadow's stomach and pushed with the combined force of his arms as well, sending Shadow back first in to a tree, the force of it causing him cough up blood. Mephiles dropped to one knee and rose as shaky hand to his throbbing left shoulder, and lifted the hand slightly only to wince in pain as a sharp ache twinged through it. He lifted his hand and even Rouge could see the blood that had been left on the glove. It was Mephiles' spray of blood earlier.

The injured hedgehog shook himself out of his trance that had set in from the sight and loss of the blood just as Shadow regained his composure, letting out a growl of rage as he charged at Mephiles again, hands glowing dangerously.

As Shadow prepared to attack, Rouge got up quickly and flew her way across the space between them and clamped herself onto his arm, dragging him down slightly as she collapsed in tears.

"… Shadow… please… _stop…_" She pleaded desperately to him as she hung on to his arm. "_…Please, stop…_"

He pulled his arm out of her grasp, and pushed her back roughly, using enough force to knock the breath out of her. She coughed for her breath as she felt her body shake all over as she felt a new, more painful set of tears coming on. She had looked to her side and seen Omega lying on the ground like a heap of brightly colored scrap metal several yards away, showing no signs of "life" as he had been put in stand-by. She was on her own now.

Mephiles had dropped to the ground to avoid a Chaos charged swipe, and flattened his ears as tiny charred chunks of rock bounced off his head. He was beginning to feel weak from his blood loss, but tried to push that aside as he tried to stay alive. He rolled to the side as Shadow aimed a jab at Mephiles' heart, his shoulder quills getting singed by the heat of the green blaze as the hand dug into the ground instead.

"Hold. _Still._" Shadow said huskily, all sounds of any compassion in his voice long died after the separation.

"Make me…" Mephiles said breathlessly, his hand gripping his shoulder as blood seeped onto the white chest fluff, staining it slowly. His eyelids drooped a little, and he swayed a bit, but his voice was full of determination.

"Gladly…" Shadow clapped his hands together, creating an intertwining cloth of crackling energy that was a brilliantly bright red color as he pulled his hands apart. The cloth rippled for a moment before twisting itself into a rope that he dropped on the ground.

Mephiles' eyes widened as he watched the rope snaked its way towards him, and wound itself around his ankles and legs. He looked up at Shadow, who had a hand up, motioning the rope to do as he pleased. Slowly, it seem to Mephiles, Shadow brought his hand down, and the teal blue striped hedgehog felt himself get dragged down, falling to the ground heavily. He landed on his injured shoulder and let out a cry of pain.

Rouge tried to lift herself off the ground, her legs almost giving in a couple times before she felt steady enough to stand. Letting her wings do most of the moving, she shakily made her way to Shadow again, feeling herself wobble in the air.

Shadow was just about to end Mephiles' life when he felt something clamp onto him again, this time from behind, burying itself into the small of his back, crying.

"…Shadow…" He heard the voice of the bat behind him choke. "_Stop… _Don't you see what you're _doing?_ This isn't you… don't do this… _don't do this…_"

He grabbed her hands and pried them off of him in one swift movement. He let go and turned around bringing his arm up slowly, hand dangling at the wrist. He flicked it up and thrust it forward in a palm strike fashion, an air pocket creating enough force to send the dismayed bat back again. As she slammed into the rock wall opposite of the other in the narrow passageway, she let out a cry of pain as her right wing was crushed between her and the wall. She slid down, her wing now lame; she could only sit there in horror.

Shadow laughed evilly as he turned his attention to Mephiles, who had managed to free himself from the rope while Shadow was distracted, and was now attempting to crawl his way to the nearest boulder to pull himself up off the ground. Shadow shook his head and said: "Why do you keep fighting? You must know the end is almost coming… It's what _you _wanted, right?"

Mephiles felt those words sting him almost as bad as his wound did. Up until now… he wanted nothing more than to continue the circle of events that kept his existence alive throughout all timelines. But his time in Shadow's mind, though, granted, it took him almost the whole time there, as well as receiving Shadow's personality, he learned that he was wrong. And by letting Shadow become what he was now, he was letting a far worse fate take its place in the time stream. And now he was probably one of, if not the only, ones to change it.

Just as Shadow lifted his hand to perform a Chaos Spear, a sharp pain shot through his head. His body tensed up as his hands flew to his head, memories and images flashing through at an alarming rate. He dropped to one knee as a flood of recollections involving Rouge, Omega and their time as Team Dark. They echoed and repeated themselves, melding as some came clearer than others. He let out a dragged cry of... it was hard to tell if it was either pain or alarm.

Either way, Mephiles took this as an opportunity to check on Rouge. He stumbled over to where she was, panting from exhaustion and his blood loss before getting where he could lean against the wall.

"…You okay?"

"… I think my wing's hurt…"

"Right or left?"

"…Right…"

"Can you move it?"

Rouge shook her head and looked up at Mephiles, tears flowing freely from her eyes. Mephiles looked a little worried.

"Does it… hurt _that_ badly?" Questioning where the tears were coming from. Rouge shook her head.

"Well... then why-?" Mephiles stopped. He couldn't say why... but the look Rouge had given him as she looked up to answer caused him to stammer the fading question. He felt his heart grow heavy as he saw the tears that fell from the white bat's jade eyes.

He closed his own eyes and shook his head.

"I'm sorry... this is all my fault..." He said, grasping at his chest fluff, feeling a sharp twinge spike throught his heart again. If he was totally familar with how caring emotions worked... he might has recognized that twinge as one of guilt. Instead, as the other logical reason that seemed to come at him, he passed it off as part of his injury.

He found that Rouge's silence was just as bad as if it would have been if she had said: "Yeah... you're right... it is..."

He lowered his head, and a quick spasm ran through him. Rouge heard a sound that could be from the "sniffle family", and turned her head to look at the teal hedgehog. She widened her eyes when she saw a tear roll off Mephiles' nose, and spatter against his bloodstained hand.

And it was at that moment... Rouge could see that Mephiles wasn't truly as evil as she thought he was.

* * *

Whoa! Back it up! Did Mephiles just cry?! The answer is yes... he did...

I also want to say that it was hard for me to let Rouge get hurt like that, but I tried to not let it be anything that would be lasting damage...

On another note... I plan to write another Mephie Fic after this story is done... possibly from his POV... I won't spoil it yet, though... so you have to wait and see...

Until next chapter... Sayonara!


	11. Dark Rising

Been a while, huh? Sorry... computer difficulties...

This chapter may have a lightly implied "Mephouge" (is that even a pair up term?) feel to it... Remember... Shadow's and Mephiles' personalities are flopped... but, still... I kinda like how Mephiles is protecting Rouge :D

I'd also like to thank you all for both the 44 reviews, and being so patient with me... I actually have decided to make this story a "part one" of a multi fic series... what do you say to that?

* * *

Shadow gripped at his head. The memories just kept pouring in. Melding and mixing together, words overlapping others. His eyes shifted upward at Rouge and Mephiles, a low growl set deep in his throat. He couldn't get himself up that well... but he was willing to give it a shot...

Rouge was startled as she saw the first tear fall. Then the next... and the next... Mephiles kept staring at the ground, and one could tell by the look on his face, that he was in complete shock. He mumbled under his breath as he started to rock back and forth, sliding to the ground and wrapping his arms around himself. Rouge raised her eyebrows at him concernedly and reached over and planted a hand on his shoulder, giving him a gentle shake.

Mephiles did not look up. He simply began shaking his head slowly, muttering thing like: "..._ This is all my fault_..." and "..._ this _can't_ be happening_..." under his breath, before he finally closed his eyes and shuddered, shying away from Rouge, and curling in on himself.

Rouge clenched her teeth together tightly... _Now_ she was alone. She tried giving Mephiles another shake or two to snap him out of his daze, but as far as it seemed... Mephiles was dead to the world.

Shadow dug his feet into the ground as Rouge decided to try to reactivate Omega. Rouge tapped at the keys on the keypad on his back, but all she got was the sound that clearly said that her access had been denied. She had never really bothered to ask Shadow Omega's start-up code before, and now really regretted it. She tried again as Shadow got ready for a Spindash.

As soon as she looked up, time seemed to slow to a crawl for Rouge. She froze in terror as Shadow curled into a ball and started spinning in place, dirt and dust clouding up behind him. His afterimage was a orange-yellow colored blur that streaked behind him as he shot off after her.

It was at that moment, Mephiles started to break from his stupor. He lifted his teal-blue streaked, spiky quilled head up and strained to focus his blurring vision. The moment he spotted the yellow-orange streak coming after Rouge... he gasped.

Rouge thought that this was really going to be the end. She knew she wouldn't be able to sidestep Shadow's Spindash; he was far too fast of a hedgehog... the only one who could sidestep it would probably be Sonic, the Blue Blur himself. She closed her eyes when Shadow was ten feet away, and brought her arms and left wing up in a futile attempt to shield herself...

A grunt and the sound of feet skidding on dirt reached her ears, which perked up in confusion as she looked up.

Mephiles was now in his crystal form, one clawed hand wrapped around Shadow's fist, the other pinning Shadow's other hand to the ground by the wrist. Both hedghogs' quills seemed to be standing on end as Mephiles used all his strength to keep Shadow at bay. Both hedghogs' eyes held expressions of extreme fury, but neither were fazed by the other.

"... Listen to me, Shadow..." Mephiles growled as he flattened his ears against his head and lowered his eyebrows even more. "... Listen to me, and listen good... Is this really what you want? Is this what you want to have become? _A monster!?_"

Shadow growled and brought his head forward, slamming it into Mephiles' in a headbutt. Mephiles had not expected that, and let go of Shadow to bring his hands to his forehead with a cry of pain. Shadow jumped up and Homing Attacked him to the ground. Mephiles, now on his back, squinted at him through his fingers with a little bit of fear and pain mixed into his former anger. That headbutt had rendered him relatively helpless now, as he now had a headache to match with his injuries, and he found out now that headaches actually impair your ability to think properly. Go figure...

"Y'know..." Shadow said darkly, as he stood over Mephiles before giving him a sharp kick in the side. "... I don't think it really matters... if I wanted this or not... but, I do know that there can only be _one_ dark being here..." He gave him another kick to roll him on his side, and stepped over him to kneel down and bring himself nose-to-absent-nose with Mephiles before letting a wicked grin spread across his face, his fanged teeth gleaming in the light of the rising sun as Mephiles' eyes widened in horror. "... And I'll tell you what... it's _not_ you..."

Mephiles felt a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach as Shadow raised a Chaos Spear charged hand upward, knowing this time, he was practically paralyzed with his own terror. Rouge watched as well, her breaths coming in quite heavily. She was starting to feel her fear and horror ebb away, and be replaced with a rather unexpected and surprising feeling: Anger.

She was mad at Shadow for letting himself be consumed with darkness and evil. She was mad at _Mephiles_ for starting this whole mess. She was mad at Shadow for hurting her, Omega and Mephiles. And... She was just_ mad_...

Clenching her fists together, she took a deep breath, and screamed.

Shadow was caught off guard. The Chaos Spear dissipated in his hand as his arm dropped to his side. Ears lifting up, her turned his head to stare at the white bat.

"Stop it!" She screamed at him, her arms out to the side, ears swiveled back. "Just stop it! You're not my Shadow! You're not! You're not! _You're not!_"

Shadow stared blankly, tilting his head to the side, his red eyes widening slowly as the bat continued to scream at him. Maybe it was Rouge yelling at him, or maybe it was a steady realization as his right mind was beginning to return... either way, he stopped.

Mephiles removed his hand from his face once the pain had dulled to a throb and spotted the purple Emerald, just within arm's reach. A Chaos Emerald got them into this mess... maybe it could...

He lifted his gaze for a moment to stare at Shadow, who was completely oblivious to Mephiles' discovery. Mephiles breathed a sigh of relief, and reached a hand for it as he kept the other on his head injury. Once his fingers wrapped around the power gem, he pulled it close to his chest and shouted: "Chaos... Control!"

Shadow froze as the purple energy engulfed him, causing his muscles to lock up. He growled threateningly as he found himself unable to come up with something to say.

Mephiles rolled himself over onto his front, hugging the Emerald close to his chest as he used his other arm to brace himself, and pushed himself up onto his knees. He lifted his head up enough to stared at Shadow, his pale white muzzle lifting up at the sides into what would be a triumphant grin, if he had a mouth.

"... I got that idea..." He breathed, one eye closed as another twinge of pain spiked through his wounds. "...from you ten years ago..."

His arm holding his weight quivered, then gave out, and he fell flat on his front, giving off a weak laugh as he did so. Rouge has stopped her screamfest the moment Shadow was frozen, and was now at Mephiles' side, checking him over.

Mephiles gently pushed her hand away, mainly because he wasn't used to someone caring about him, and said rather breathlessly: "... I'm fine... _really_..."

Rouge knew that was something Shadow would say if the situation was flipped, regardless of _how_ severe his injuries were. Still, she helped Mephiles sit up against Omega, Mephiles swaying just slightly as he did so. Realizing the Emerald's sharp edges were beginning to cut into the palm of his tightly clenched hand, he held it up to Rouge.

"... Here..." He said softly. "... This Emerald made Shadow and me this way... I'm sure it can make us right again..."

Rouge stared at Mephiles. He was holding a Chaos Emerald, the very source of power he had so lusted for earlier this week, in his hand... and he was offering it to her to fix everything. She locked gazes with him, expecting to find a hint of trickery in his eyes, but all she could see was honest sincerity. He really was serious.

When Rouge didn't reach her hand for the Emerald, he shook it lightly to show her it was really there. She took it and nodded.

"Thank you..."

"...You're... welcome..."

* * *

End of... Chapter 11? Am I really that far? Wow...

Just so you know... the series title is making more sense now... Mephiles is learning about... stuff... hence "Teaching Darkness" :D


	12. A New Start For Me

As the end of my story draws closer... I want to thank everyone for reading this and to be sure to look out for one shot follow ups and this story's multi-chap sequel: "Teaching Darkness: Visions".

I'll give you the summary for it at the end of the chapter -wink-

I'd also like to thank you all for 47 reviews... thank you :D

* * *

Rouge stared at the Emerald in her hands. The sun's light hit it at just the right angle to cause a rainbow of indigo shades on her gloves. Such a beautiful gem, and for it and its brothers to have caused so much strife… it seemed truly a shame… 

Mephiles felt the ache in his head subside some, and was reminded painfully of his shoulder injury. Had he had teeth, he would have gritted them. He made a mental note that if he lived through this; he was going to alter his look a bit, as he had actually grown used to the concept of teeth, tongue and mouth when he had managed to possess Shadow, and wondered vaguely, as his stomach gave a uncomfortable twist when his shoulder twinged with pain from Shadow's strike earlier…. What would have happened if he felt the need to vomit?

He looked up at Rouge, waiting for her to make her move. She hesitated, and then looked down at him questioningly.

"… Chaos Emeralds transform thought into power…" He answered her unspoken question. "… If you really want it to happen… it will…"

Rouge stared at him for a moment before shaking her head dejectedly.

"I tired that already… and look what happened…" She gestured at his shoulder as Mephiles shifted his gaze to take in his surroundings, searching for a solution. He seemed to have found it in a tree.

"… Maybe you didn't focus all your thoughts into it…" He said, half in his own thoughts, rocking his head from side to side, almost like a metronome, in his own slow and steady rhythm. "… I believe… it takes…" He trailed off for a moment, immersing himself into his own mind briefly, before he came up with the rest of his sentence.

Opening his good eye swiftly, he stared up at Rouge and said: "… A lot of… concentration and… determination…"

Rouge nodded slowly before saying: "… Are you okay? You seemed like you lost your train of thought for a moment."

Mephiles let out a shaky sigh before murmuring breathlessly: "… I may have lost too much blood in that fight… It's getting harder… to think as the time passes… as well as I seemed to have developed… a spell of vertigo… I'm having some trouble just sitting up…"

When he saw Rouge's concern, he lowered his head and dug his claws into the grass in front of him, feeling heat rise to his face.

"… Please… don't waste your concern on me…" He whispered lowly. "… Had it not been for my actions… earlier this week… none of this would be happening… I do not deserve your apprehension…"

His blue crystal shard tipped ears swiveled and folded back, nearly disappearing into his quills as he sank lower, half tempted to melt into the ground and disappear into nothingness as well.

"… _I don't deserve sympathy_…" He mumbled dismally.

Rouge couldn't help but actually feel sorry for the shade. True… this was his fault, and, yes… he _did_ possess her friend, and was the source of numerous injuries Team Dark would carry for a while, both physical and mental… but… if one thought about it… Mephiles didn't really know any better.

No more than thirty minutes after his first conscious thought, Mephiles had been forced into the Scepter of Darkness when he had only wanted nothing more than to escape the icy and frightening environment of the laboratory that was his birthplace. When he wasn't concentrating on his revenge during his decade in the Scepter, he would often find his mind plagued with the first things he had seen: several unmoving bodies and glass littering the floor he was pooling on before he dissolved into a dark mist-like vapor and fled, a red streaked spiky quilled hedgehog hot on his trail. The memory of this during his time inside the Scepter had hardened his heart and soul, until he found himself consumed with the very darkness that had surrounded him, and he became a newfound entity of Darkness.

Hardly given a proper start, he was really no more than a failure in a lab experiment to create an artificial sun god with the ability to travel through time, so people could correct past mistakes and sins. His creation was merely accidental, and was, therefore, not meant to exist.

Mephiles was wrong. He _did _deserve sympathy, pity, and apprehension. He was merely caught up in a series of events that took a wrong turn.

Standing between a "frozen" Shadow, and a distraught Mephiles, Rouge shifted her gaze back and forth between the two, trying to find the best outcome for them all.

Shifting the Emerald back and forth between her hands, she took a step back to where she could see the two hedgehogs in front of her. For a while, she remained silent, afraid that she was going to botch this up as well.

She glanced at her left wrist, and saw the mark from Shadow the other day. She remembered how he had been horrified at the thought of causing her harm, so much to the point that he had fled in terror, and ran until he just collapsed. Granted… he didn't get very far, and he was promptly found within the hour, curled up on the streets, whispering apologies in his unconscious daze. He had only run away to protect her from Mephiles.

Her right wing hung limply as she remembered that this injury happened because Shadow was not himself and had not recognized her as his friend, but more as a bothersome obstacle.

She also remembered how Mephiles had not only returned her favor of rescuing him from drowning, but had also forced Shadow down, to rescue her again, despite Shadow's physical force of a head attack.

She lowered her eyebrows with determination and nodded to no one in particular. Then, with inexplicable reason, tossed the Emerald into the air, only slightly surprised that it began to glow and hover before her.

Both hedgehogs began glowing with a colored aura; Shadow with blue, Mephiles with red. Shadow's purple blanket of energy dissipated as a glazed expression graced not only his, but Mephiles' face as well. Mephiles leaned back limply into Omega as all emotion drained from his features, Shadow doing likewise against the boulder behind him.

"… The servers are the seven Chaos…" Rouge said, knowing from first hand account that this saying somehow amplified the power of the Emeralds. "… Chaos is power enriched by the heart…"

She knew that that was only the start of things. She needed to state her purpose for tapping into the Emerald's power, if she wanted this to work right.

"… Precious Chaos Emerald…" She began, hoping she worded it right. "… Hear me, now… I wish nothing more than to make this right and return Shadow and Mephiles to who they really are… I wish to correct the previous mistakes, and right the wrong that was made…"

She focused one last thought on one other thing, and called her last request to the Emerald, hoping that she would be thanked for this.

The auras around the hedgehogs began to lift upward, and spiky quilled forms could be made out in them. The blue one drifted over to the red one, running several circles around it before giving it a harsh nudge, the red aura peeling from Mephiles and floating over to Shadow. The blue aura orbited around the crystalline hedge-beast in a fashion similar to how Mephiles had one he had first broken free from the Scepter, and it struck itself into Mephiles' chest, causing the shade to gasp only faintly before he blinked wearily. He lifted his head only a little, before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed on his side with a weakened moan and a muffled thud, breathing shallowly; exhausted, but otherwise okay.

Shadow's aura tried a different approach, and simply seemingly melted into Shadow's fur, just as Mephiles had done to fuse them together. Shadow's eyes regained focus for a moment, before he too, passed out, falling on his back coughing, one arm laying across his stomach, the other laying on the ground to where his hand was beside his head.

The Emerald dropped and hit the ground at Rouge's feet. The white bat smiled smugly before reaching down to pick it up, then walking her way to the shade of the large tree, and sat down in the grass to wait for the hedgehogs to wake up.

* * *

Omega's system rebooted on its own. The robot waited for the startup screen to pass, cursing inwardly to himself for being run on Windows ME, and greatly considered taking the next upgrade that comes his way. Getting past the login screen, his system was fully functional, and his HUD was greeted with the sight of the well lit forest. 

He swiveled his head to the side and spotted Rouge, who was tossing the purple Emerald up and down in the air out of sheer boredom.

It didn't take him long for him to realize that very battle worn looking Mephiles was asleep next to him; his hands folded on his chest, his head propped up against Omega's metal body, and was breathing in a rhythm to suggest he was deeply out of it.

Instantly, Omega jumped up, Mephiles sliding to the ground and striking his head on a small rock, causing him to mutter involuntarily as he broke free from his sleep paralysis slowly, bringing his hands up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes to see better. He almost immediately wished he hadn't woken up.

Omega was pointing his guns at the shade.

Mephiles flattened himself against the ground out of instinct, and closed his eyes. He heard Rouge yell at the robot, and opened his eyes to watch Omega lower his guns in total bewilderment. Rouge telling him to not attack Mephiles when it was obvious to the robot that the shade and Shadow had been split apart? Omega wondered what kind of robot hell he'd just woken up to, and figured he should just blame his stupid operating system.

Now completely awake, Mephiles sat up slowly and looked at Rouge, who had pulled Shadow out of the sun, who groaned lightly, and rolled on his side and curled up. She now had her injured wing set with a makeshift splint made of sticks and her torn glove. Rouge saw him staring, and returned his gesture before smiling brightly.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him.

Mephiles stared for a moment before letting the question run through his mind. He shrugged and ran his tongue over his teeth and…

And stopped.

He brought his quivering hands to his muzzle and his fingers touched against a mouth with teeth like Shadow's. His eyes widened in astonishment as he moved his hand upward and felt a small nose much like Rouge's. He also noticed that his "feet" were no longer masses of mist… but… _feet_…

"But…_ how?_" He managed to choke out once he found his voice, which had died for a moment at his discovery. "I-I-I… It… _How _can this be?!"

Rouge kept smiling slyly as she balanced the Emerald on the tips of her fingers.

"I made another wish on the Emerald…" She said. "… This one was for you. I wished that you would be able to start over with your life and live it the way you want…"

"… and the mouth, nose and feet?"

"Its part of what you wanted…"

Mephiles didn't know what to say. No set of words could even begin to express what he was feeling right now. He clenched his new teeth together as his eyes began to water. He flattened his ears, took a deep breath…

And cried.

He couldn't explain to himself why. He wasn't feeling upset, or hurt, or depressed. In fact, he felt quite the opposite.

He wiped the tears from his eyes with the backs of his hands, only to have more replace them as fast as he had banished them. He wondered if this was a normal reaction to overwhelming joy, and decided to just contemplate it later when he found that he didn't really care at the moment of it was.

As Rouge came over to check on him, a little startled by his reaction, Mephiles picked himself up from the ground, stumbling only a few feet before he launched himself into her arms, wrapping his own around her in a tremendously grateful embrace, careful to avoid her hurt wing as his body shuddered with his tears of happiness.

"… Thank you… Oh, thank you…" He paused awkwardly when he suddenly became aware that he did not know her name. He pulled away just enough to stare at her with his question radiating from his eyes.

"Rouge…" She answered. "My name is Rouge the Bat…"

Mephiles nodded before returning back to his hug, enjoying how it made him feel inside. "…Thank you… Rouge the Bat…" He whispered in her ear. "Thank you so much…"

* * *

How's _that _for an ending? I really believe Mephy's just misunderstood and just as confused about himself as Shadow once was. I've even noticed that a softer and different side of Mephiles has shown is some of the game clips, like how he seems to be holding his fingers together nervously when explaining to Blaze and Silver about "The Day Of Disaster"... or how his reaction was when Shadow cornered him and sealed him in the Scepter of Darkness ten years before... 

Anyway... the summary for the sequel

Basically... the plot is set some time after the first story. Mephiles now lives with Rouge and Shadow, and has taken Shadow's sleeping place: The Couch (He he he). Several months after this fic, Mephiles starts having nightmares of being held captive and tortured by (_Another well known Sonic villian_... _sorry_..._ I don't want to spoil the surprise_..._ heh_...), which start to frighten him to the point of making him fell sick. Setting aside thier differences and former hatred for each other, Shadow agrees to keep a close watch on Mephiles, whose becoming a nervous wreck as his nightmares worsen.

My dog, Jak and I (as my Sonic Ego) make a debute as minor (or _are _we? -evilish grin-) characters that not only provide help, but the lighthearted humor as well...

I already wrote it out on paper, and can't wait to start it up... so... untill then... Au revoir (I'm _so_ not French... I used Babel Fish...)


End file.
